scholarly journals Leukemic cell growth in SCID mice as a predictor of relapse in high- risk B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Blood ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 873-878 ◽  
Author(s):  
FM Uckun ◽  
H Sather ◽  
G Reaman ◽  
J Shuster ◽  
V Land ◽  
...  

Mice with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) provide a model system to examine the in vivo homing, engraftment, and growth patterns of normal and malignant human hematopoietic cells. The relation between leukemic cell growth in this model and the treatment outcome in patients from whom cells were derived has not been established. Leukemic cells from 42 children with newly diagnosed high-risk B- lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia were inoculated intravenously into CB.17 SCID mice. Mice were killed at 12 weeks or when they became moribund as a result of disseminated leukemia. All mice were necropsied and subjected to a series of laboratory studies to assess their burden of human leukemic cells. Twenty-three patients whose leukemic cells caused histopathologically detectable leukemia in SCID mice had a significantly higher relapse rate than the 19 patients whose leukemic cells did not (estimated 5-year event-free survival: 29.5% v 94.7%; 95% confidence intervals, 11.2% to 50.7% v 68.1% to 99.2%; P < .0001 by log- rank test). The occurrence of overt leukemia in SCID mice was was a highly significant predictor of patient relapse. The estimated instantaneous risk of relapse for patients whose leukemic cells caused overt leukemia in SCID mice was 21.5-fold greater than that for the remaining patients. Thus, growth of human leukemic cells in SCID mice is a strong and independent predictor of relapse in patients with newly diagnosed high-risk B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Blood ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 79 (9) ◽  
pp. 2384-2391 ◽  
Author(s):  
CH Pui ◽  
AJ Carroll ◽  
SC Raimondi ◽  
MJ Schell ◽  
DR Head ◽  
...  

Cytogenetic analysis of leukemic cells from 2,805 children with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) identified 83 cases (3%) that had a stemline with at least one isochromosome. The i(9q) was present in 28 (1%), the i(17q) in 23 (0.8%), and the i(7q) in 23 (0.8%). Other isochromosomes--i(21q), i(6p), i(1q), i(8q), or i(Xq)-- were found in only 12 cases (0.4%). The isochromosome cases were more likely than were other ALL cases to have a pre-B immunophenotype (38% v 25%, P = .02) and leukemic cell hyperdiploidy greater than 50 (37% v 24%, P = .02); five cases had both features. The i(9q) was associated with age greater than 10 years (P less than .05) and the pre-B immunophenotype (P = .05); both the i(17q) and i(7q) had high frequencies of hyperdiploidy greater than 50 (P less than .0001 and P = .05, respectively). The t(1;19)(q23;p13) was a common feature (23%) in cases with the i(9q), i(7q), i(6p), or i(1q). These findings establish the i(9q), i(17q), and i(7q) as nonrandom chromosomal abnormalities in ALL. The prognostic significance of the presence of isochromosome(s) remains to be determined.


Blood ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 79 (9) ◽  
pp. 2384-2391 ◽  
Author(s):  
CH Pui ◽  
AJ Carroll ◽  
SC Raimondi ◽  
MJ Schell ◽  
DR Head ◽  
...  

Abstract Cytogenetic analysis of leukemic cells from 2,805 children with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) identified 83 cases (3%) that had a stemline with at least one isochromosome. The i(9q) was present in 28 (1%), the i(17q) in 23 (0.8%), and the i(7q) in 23 (0.8%). Other isochromosomes--i(21q), i(6p), i(1q), i(8q), or i(Xq)-- were found in only 12 cases (0.4%). The isochromosome cases were more likely than were other ALL cases to have a pre-B immunophenotype (38% v 25%, P = .02) and leukemic cell hyperdiploidy greater than 50 (37% v 24%, P = .02); five cases had both features. The i(9q) was associated with age greater than 10 years (P less than .05) and the pre-B immunophenotype (P = .05); both the i(17q) and i(7q) had high frequencies of hyperdiploidy greater than 50 (P less than .0001 and P = .05, respectively). The t(1;19)(q23;p13) was a common feature (23%) in cases with the i(9q), i(7q), i(6p), or i(1q). These findings establish the i(9q), i(17q), and i(7q) as nonrandom chromosomal abnormalities in ALL. The prognostic significance of the presence of isochromosome(s) remains to be determined.


Blood ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 89 (10) ◽  
pp. 3735-3744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hikari Nishigaki ◽  
Chikako Ito ◽  
Atsushi Manabe ◽  
Masa-aki Kumagai ◽  
Elaine Coustan-Smith ◽  
...  

We used a stroma-supported culture method to study the prevalence and growth characteristics of malignant stem cells in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In 51 of 108 B-lineage ALL samples, bone marrow-derived stroma not only inhibited apoptosis of ALL cells but also supported their proliferation in serum-free medium. When single leukemic cells were placed in the stroma-coated wells of microtiter plates, the percentage of wells with leukemic cell growth after 2 to 5 months of culture ranged from 6% to 20% (median, 15%; 5 experiments). The immunophenotypes and genetic features of cells recovered from these cultures were identical to those noted before culture. All cells maintained their stroma dependency and self-renewal capacity. Leukemic clones derived from single cells contained approximately 103 to 106 cells after 1 month of culture; other clones became detectable only after prolonged culture. Cell growth in stroma-coated wells correlated with the number of initially seeded cells (1 or 10; r = .87). However, the observed percentages of positive wells seeded with 10 cells always exceeded values predicted from results with single-cell–initiated cultures (P < .003 by paired t-test), suggesting stimulation of leukemic cell growth by paracrine factors. In conclusion, the proportion of ALL cells with clonogenic potential may be considerably higher than previously thought.


Blood ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 89 (10) ◽  
pp. 3735-3744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hikari Nishigaki ◽  
Chikako Ito ◽  
Atsushi Manabe ◽  
Masa-aki Kumagai ◽  
Elaine Coustan-Smith ◽  
...  

Abstract We used a stroma-supported culture method to study the prevalence and growth characteristics of malignant stem cells in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In 51 of 108 B-lineage ALL samples, bone marrow-derived stroma not only inhibited apoptosis of ALL cells but also supported their proliferation in serum-free medium. When single leukemic cells were placed in the stroma-coated wells of microtiter plates, the percentage of wells with leukemic cell growth after 2 to 5 months of culture ranged from 6% to 20% (median, 15%; 5 experiments). The immunophenotypes and genetic features of cells recovered from these cultures were identical to those noted before culture. All cells maintained their stroma dependency and self-renewal capacity. Leukemic clones derived from single cells contained approximately 103 to 106 cells after 1 month of culture; other clones became detectable only after prolonged culture. Cell growth in stroma-coated wells correlated with the number of initially seeded cells (1 or 10; r = .87). However, the observed percentages of positive wells seeded with 10 cells always exceeded values predicted from results with single-cell–initiated cultures (P < .003 by paired t-test), suggesting stimulation of leukemic cell growth by paracrine factors. In conclusion, the proportion of ALL cells with clonogenic potential may be considerably higher than previously thought.


Blood ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 106 (11) ◽  
pp. 1443-1443
Author(s):  
Beate Gleissner ◽  
Nicola Goekbuget ◽  
Harald Rieder ◽  
Dieter Hoelzer ◽  
Eckhard Thiel

Abstract Introduction: Immunological subtyping and molecular genetic analysis enable risk-adapted treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Translocations involving the mixed lingeage leukemia (MLL) gene characterize one poor-prognosis subtype of adult B-lineage precursor ALL correlating with a CD19+/CD10−/cytoplasmic (cy) IgM− immunophenotype (pro-B ALL). Patients and Methods: Immunophenotyping was performed on 2,408 newly diagnosed ALL specimens indentifying pro-B ALL, TdT+/CD19+/CD10−/cyIgM−/surface(S)Ig−; c-ALL, TdT+/CD19+/CD10+/cyIgM−/SIg−; and pre-B ALL, TdT+/CD19+/CD10+/cyIgM+/SIg−. Ambiguous cases of CD10-positivity (5–15% CD10-positivity) were rechecked by a second antibody. BCR-ABL RT-PCR and cytogenetics were performed. CD10-negative blasts also underwent MLL-AF4 RT-PCR. FISH using directly labelled probes for MLL was done in selected cases. Patients were treated according the German Multicenter Adult ALL trials (GMALL) with MLL-rearrangement positive patients treated in the high-risk arm. Results: Immunophenotyping identified 70 CD10-negative pre-B ALL specimens (TdT+CD19+cyIgM+). Fifty-six of these 70 CD10-negative pre-B ALL specimens contained a sufficient amount of blasts for molecular analysis. A total of 46/56 CD10-negative pre-B ALL were assigned to MLL-rearrangement positivity, revealing either MLL-AF4 fusion by RT-PCR (n = 38) or an 11q23/MLL translocation by cytogenetics (n = 4) or FISH (n = 4). Looking at clinical characteristics, MLL-rearrangement-positive patients were characterized by a higher median white blood cell count (P = .0002) and their blasts showed frequently neuroglial antigen 2 chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (P = .02). Forty CD10− pre-B ALL patients with molecular genetic and/or cytogenetic data were evaluable for the treatment response and outcome. A complete remission (CR) was achieved in 6 of 7 (86%) MLL-rearrangement-negative and in 27 of 33 (82%) MLL-rearrangement-positive patients (P = .06). CR was maintained by 2 of 6 (33.3%) MLL-rearrangement-negative and 7 of 27 (26%) MLL-rearrangement-positive patients. The probability of remission duration after 3 years was 0.37 (± 0.29 SE) in MLL-rearrangement-negative versus 0.28 (± 0.13 SE) in MLL-rearrangement-positive patients contributing essentially to the overall survival at 3 years after diagnosis of 0.15 (± 0.06 SE) in patients with CD10-negative pre-B ALL. Conclusion: Our data identify CD10− cytoplasmic Ig-positive pre-B ALL as a rare (2.2%) but distinct immunosubtype of adult ALL that is characterized by a high MLL rearrangement rate and a worse outcome with conventional intensified treatment strategies.


1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 527-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
F M Uckun ◽  
M G Sensel ◽  
H N Sather ◽  
P S Gaynon ◽  
D C Arthur ◽  
...  

PURPOSE The nonrandom translocation t(1;19) has been associated with poor outcome in pediatric B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Because most patients treated by contemporary therapies now achieve improved outcomes, we have reassessed the prognostic significance of t(1;19). PATIENTS AND METHODS Cytogenetic data were accepted for 1,322 children (<21 years old) with newly diagnosed ALL enrolled between 1988 and 1994 on risk-adjusted studies of the Children's Cancer Group (CCG). Forty-seven patients (3.6%) were t(1;19) positive (+); 1,275 (96.4%) were t(1;19) negative (-). Clinical characteristics and treatment outcome were compared using standard methods. RESULTS Translocation (1;19)+ patients were more likely than t(1;19)- patients to be 10 years of age or greater (P < .001) or CD10+ CD19+ CD34- (P < .0001), or nonwhite (P = .02). Patients with a balanced t(1;19) were less likely to be hyperdiploid than patients with an unbalanced der(19)t(1;19). Event-free survival (EFS) was similar for the overall group of t(1;19)+ and t(1;19)- patients, with 4-year estimates of 69.5% (SD, 6.8%) and 74.8% (SD, 1.3%; P = .48), respectively. However, patients with unbalanced der(19)t(1;19) had significantly better outcomes than patients with balanced t(1;19): 4-year EFS were 80.6% (SD, 7.1%) and 41.7% (SD, 13.5%), respectively (P = .003). These differences were maintained within the individual studies analyses and after exclusion of t(1;19)+ patients whose cells were hyperdiploid with more than 50 chromosomes. CONCLUSION The overall group of t(1;19)+ patients, as well as the subgroup with an unbalanced der(19)+ (1;19) had outcomes similar to that of t(1;19)- patients, whereas patients with balanced t(1;19) had poorer outcomes. Thus, although the overall prognostic significance of t(1;19) has been obviated by contemporary risk-adjusted protocols, the balanced t(1;19) translocation remains an adverse prognostic factor.


Blood ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 78 (11) ◽  
pp. 2973-2981 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Kamel-Reid ◽  
M Letarte ◽  
M Doedens ◽  
A Greaves ◽  
B Murdoch ◽  
...  

Bone marrow samples from patients with pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia (pre-B ALL), either at diagnosis or at relapse, were transplanted into scid mice to determine whether these freshly obtained leukemic cells could proliferate in vivo and whether there were any differences in their in vivo growth characteristics. Cells from three patients who relapsed within 13 months of diagnosis proliferated rapidly in the murine bone marrow, spleen, and thymus, invaded peripheral organs, and resulted in morbidity and mortality of the animals within 4 to 16 weeks. Cells from two patients who relapsed 3.5 years after diagnosis grew much slower than the early relapse samples, taking up to 30 weeks to infiltrate the bone marrow of recipient mice. In contrast, leukemic cells were absent or were detected at low numbers in scid mice transplanted with cells obtained at diagnosis from three patients who have not yet relapsed. These results show an increased ability of leukemic cells from patients with aggressive lymphoblastic leukemia of poor prognosis to proliferate in scid mice.


Blood ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 81 (11) ◽  
pp. 3052-3062 ◽  
Author(s):  
FM Uckun ◽  
JR Downing ◽  
R Gunther ◽  
LM Chelstrom ◽  
D Finnegan ◽  
...  

Severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice were injected intravenously with 5 x 10(6) primary bone marrow (BM) blasts from newly diagnosed patients with E2A-PBX1 fusion transcript positive t(1;19)(q23;p13) pre- B acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). A marked variation existed in the pattern and extent of leukemic cell engraftment in SCID mice challenged with t(1;19) pre-B ALL blasts. Blasts from some patients caused disseminated leukemia that was detected by histopathology and/or flow cytometry, whereas blasts from other patients produced occult leukemia that was only detected by flow cytometry and/or polymerase-chain reaction. Notably, the ability of primary t(1;19) pre-B ALL blasts to cause disseminated leukemia in SCID mice was associated with poor prognosis. Six of six patients whose blasts caused disseminated leukemia in SCID mice relapsed at a median of 7.8 months (range: 5.7 to 25.2 months). In contrast, the remaining four patients whose blasts did not engraft or only partially engrafted remain in complete remission at 28 to 47 months. A new E2A-PBX-1 fusion transcript positive t(1;19) pre- B ALL cell line (designated LC1;19) with the composite immunophenotype CD7-CD10+CD19+CD45-HLA-DR+C mu+ was established by expanding BM blasts from a SCID mouse, which died of human t(1;19) ALL at 7 weeks after inoculation of primary leukemic blasts from a t(1;19) ALL patient. This cell line caused disseminated and invariably fatal leukemia when greater than 10(4) cells were injected intravenously into SCID mice. Total body irradiation followed by syngeneic BM transplantation (BMT) showed limited efficacy against LC1;19 leukemia in SCID mice. To our knowledge, this study is the first to (1) examine the in vivo growth of primary t(1;19) pre-B ALL blasts in SCID mice and (2) show that leukemic blasts from a majority of newly diagnosed t(1;19) pre-B ALL patients cause disseminated human leukemia in SCID mice. Our results indicate that t(1;19) pre-B ALL is biologically heterogeneous with regard to its in vivo growth pattern in SCID mice, a feature that may be predictive of prognosis. The described LC1;19 SCID mouse model may prove particularly useful for designing more effective treatment strategies against poor-prognosis t(1;19) ALL.


Blood ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 83 (7) ◽  
pp. 1731-1737 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Manabe ◽  
E Coustan-Smith ◽  
M Kumagai ◽  
FG Behm ◽  
SC Raimondi ◽  
...  

Abstract We investigated the effects of interleukin-4 (IL-4) on the survival of leukemic and normal B-cell progenitors cultured on bone marrow stroma. IL-4 (at 100 U/mL) was cytotoxic in 16 of 21 cases of B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia, causing reductions in CD19+ cell numbers that ranged from 50% to greater than 99% (median 83.5%) of those in parallel cultures not exposed to the cytokine. All nine cases with the t(9;22)(q34;q11) or the t(4;11)(q21;q23), chromosomal features that are often associated with multidrug resistance and a fatal outcome, were susceptible to IL-4 toxicity. IL-4 cytotoxicity resulted from induction of programmed cell death (apoptosis); there was no evidence of cell killing mediated by T, natural killer, or stromal cells. IL-4 cytotoxicity extended to a proportion of normal B-cell progenitors. After 7 days of culture with IL-4 at 100 U/mL, fewer CD19+, CD34+ normal lymphoblasts (the most immature subset) survived: in five experiments the mean (+/- SEM) reduction in cell recoveries caused by IL-4 was 60.0% +/- 6.0%. By contrast, reductions in recovery of more differentiated bone marrow B cells (CD19+, CD34-, surface Ig+) were low (6.6% +/- 2.2%; P < .001 by t-test). Our findings indicate that IL-4 is cytotoxic for human B-cell precursors and support clinical testing of IL-4 in cases of high-risk lymphoblastic leukemia resistant to conventional therapy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (23) ◽  
pp. 2700-2707 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina K. Hardy ◽  
Leanne Embry ◽  
John A. Kairalla ◽  
Shanjun Helian ◽  
Meenakshi Devidas ◽  
...  

Purpose Survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are at risk for neurocognitive deficits that are associated with treatment, individual, and environmental factors. This study examined the impact of different methotrexate (MTX) and corticosteroid treatment strategies on neurocognitive functioning in children with high-risk B-lineage ALL. Methods Participants were randomly assigned to receive high-dose MTX with leucovorin rescue or escalating dose MTX with PEG asparaginase without leucovorin rescue. Patients were also randomly assigned to corticosteroid therapy that included either dexamethasone or prednisone. A neurocognitive evaluation of intellectual functioning (IQ), working memory, and processing speed (PS) was conducted 8 to 24 months after treatment completion (n = 192). Results The method of MTX delivery and corticosteroid assignment were unrelated to differences in neurocognitive outcomes after controlling for ethnicity, race, age, gender, insurance status, and time off treatment; however, survivors who were age < 10 years at diagnosis (n = 89) had significantly lower estimated IQ ( P < .001) and PS scores ( P = .02) compared with participants age ≥ 10 years. In addition, participants who were covered by US public health insurance had estimated IQs that were significantly lower ( P < .001) than those with US private or military insurance. Conclusion Children with high-risk B-lineage ALL who were age < 10 years at diagnosis are at risk for deficits in IQ and PS in the absence of cranial radiation, regardless of MTX delivery or corticosteroid type. These data may serve as a basis for developing screening protocols to identify children who are at high risk for deficits so that early intervention can be initiated to mitigate the impact of therapy on neurocognitive outcomes.


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